Features of Djordje Branković’s “Slavo-Serbian Chronicle” and Its Russian Subjects

The huge manuscript “Slavo-Serbian Chronicle”, amounting to about 3,000 pages, was written by Count Djordje Branković (1645—1711) under the conditions of imprisonment to which he was subjected by the Holy Roman Empire authorities. This work can be interpreted as a kind of mirror reflecting the extensive erudition, historical views and political pretensions of its author. For some readers and writers of the 18th century, first of all for the famous Serbian historian Jovan Rajić (1726—1801), the Chronicle served not only as an important source for the formation and transposition of historical knowledge, but also as an occasion for moralistic interpretation of the author’s biography. The peculiarities of the presentation of historical information in Branković’s Chronicle are considered in this article on the example of events of the 16th century related to Russian history. The unpublished fifth book of the “Slavo-Serbian Chronicle” from a manuscript in the Library of the Serbian Patriarchate in Belgrade was used for this purpose. The history of the Chronicle’s reception shows that Djordje Branković’s major work managed to create a special space for the dissemination of knowledge about the past: in the 18th century, the manuscript was repeatedly used by history buffs among the Serbian Orthodox clergy, and by the end of the same century, thanks to the book of Jovan Rajić, dozens of Serbs living in different cities of the Habsburg monarchy had learned about Branković’s Chronicle.